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TrueCOWBOYmagazine is the hottest, coolest ezine around. Think Maxim mag goes west with a mission to save our American Icon, the mighty wild mustang! And did I mention our fab Buckle Bunnies? Yup, I'm your huckleberry! and this is us.
Citation preview
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3/4 2015
48 Shades of Buckle Bunny
Simone Reyes
2o Answers Stephen Wells
iVIEW
Franklin Levinson
At Home on the Range Cynthia Smalley
Every Picture Tells a Story Laura Leigh
A horse for the soul Cameron Ashley Smith
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HavE App,
Will
Travel
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Publisher Equine Angle Marketing & PR
Editor Cate Crismani
Advertising & Editorial 818 642 4764
Featured Fotographer Cynthia Smalley
Featured Buckle Bunny
Fotographer Kelle King
Make-up Artist~ Kate Chavez
Contributing Wriders Bhalin * Mark Bolender
Cate Crismani * Laura Leigh
Gina McKnight * Jack “Jake” Pratt
Simone Reyes
Cameron Ashley Smith * Tobin Tullis
Contributing Fotographers Zane Cruz * Ian Elwood * Tobin Tullis
Saddle up, Subscribe at www.truecowboymagazine.com
Heard aroun’ the
waterin’ trough
In all my years on Earth, I have learned a lot of
lessons but one more important than all the
others is: Look, don’t listen.
Just look around at your environment,
people, government, family, friends,
enemies...keep your mouth shut and just look.
Are they operating in a way that benefits
themselves, their partners, friends, animals,
the planet...do they operate under a code of
ethics...or are they just saying they do but the
evidence is nowhere to be seen. Is their
behavior the polar opposite of their words.
Look, don’t listen.
Unfortunately, most people will say just about
anything to gain just about anything for their
own benefit or to make themselves appear
heroic or better than others. Including critical
remarks to others about YOU! And when that
happens too often, shut them down fast… tell
them you are on to them and they had better
restrain themselves or you will!
Those unfortunate, feeble, little-minded people
can do some damage so stop them in their
tracks fast, partner.
As we work to save our wild mustangs,
animals and Earth we must also seek out those
who are covertly doing harm, buy spreading
malicious rumors and lies while behaving in a
covert manner ...Know them by their actions,
amigos. Look, don’t listen!
Now, go DO something great!
Gracias & besos,
Calamity
Cate Crismani
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Features
8 At Home On the Range with
Cynthia Smalley
16 20 Answers with
Stephen Wells
27 Where Have All The Horses
Gone?...Cate Crismani
32 A Horse for tHe soul……CAmeron AsHley smitH
40 Every Picture tells a story......Laura Leigh
48 48 Shades of Simone Reyes
58 iView with Franklin
levinson…….GinA mCKniGHt
68 “CrooKed nose” JACK
mCCAll…..JACK “JAKe” PrAtt
76 i tHouGHt i sAw Her first…tobin
Tullis
82 tHe new disCiPline…….mArK
Bolender
86 Horses & stArs…..bHAlin
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At Home on the Range
Cynthia Smalley
Photo courtesy of Zane Cruz
Cynthia Smalley has loved horses for as long as
she can remember. Growing up in the high deserts
of northern Nevada, horses, hawks and horned
toads were her playmates. As a young girl, she
brought her little pony into the house so often it
learned to paw at the back door to be let in. After
traveling the globe for twenty-five years
photographing people, it felt natural that her heart
led her back to the desert to photograph wild
mustangs. Her home is their home and she photo-
graphs wild mustangs in the great American Seren-
geti of the West. “Above all things”, says Cynthia,
“I am a freedom-loving adventurer. Just like the
wild mustangs.”
Cynthia has spent countless hours on the range amongst the powerful and
magnificent wild stallions, the watchful mares, and the endlessly playful young
ones for the past fifteen years. When out photographing them in the high deserts
and mountains, she spends days following the wild ones around with just a
folding chair, a big jug of water, protein bars and her cameras. Because she is
quiet, patient, calm, and unobtrusive, she becomes a subtle part of their landscape.
“What the wild mustangs do when they are relaxed and just being themselves is
the spontaneity I aspire to capture”, says Cynthia, “those are the magical moments
I call ‘art’.” Her photographs illustrate the grace, vitality, and majesty of these
American icons. Cynthia has exhibited her work, aptly titled "Wind Runners Of
The High Plains", in Houston and Los Angeles. Her photography has also been
published in Elle, Time, Cowboys and Indians, and Palm Springs Life magazines.
View more of Cynthia Smalley’s work at www.wildhorsesandwesternart.com
www.smalleyphoto.com [email protected] 541.556.9070
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Stephen Wells is the Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. For six years, until 2006, Stephen founded and servAnimal Law Program, which provides support and resources to ALDF’s law professional and law student members and pro bono opportunities for attorneys and firms to
assist ALDF with its mission. At the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Steve saw an opportunity to expand into law schools and involresources and pro bono connections. He helped stop wild animal trainers in Los Angeles from abusing primates in a landmark lafor hundreds of animals in the infamous North Carolina Woodley hoarding case. Stephen has also raised significant funds to cr
helps ALDF fund an expanding vision for the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School. When Stephen started, he created an in-house litigation program which, with the help of his new litigation director, Carter Dillard, allowed ALDF to
expanded the Animal Law Program and helped to exponentially expand the student chapters (SALDF) of the Animal Legal Defense Despite Stephen’s non-stop schedule and dedicated drive, trueCOWBOYmagazine got a lasso on him for this interview.
20 Answers
from Stephen Wells
Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund
trueCOWBOYmagazine: Who is Stephen Wells?
Stephen Wells: I would say that I am someone who has always had
compassion for animals. But it took me a long time to make the connection as
to what society was doing to animals. My first passion was wild life and I saw
how threatened it was and still is. It made me want to fight to protect wild life
and the environment. I was like an onion pulling back the skins and realized I
had to do something about both and I needed to be involved. I became and am
totally involved in animal rights; legally and humanely.
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Stephen Wells is the Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. For six years, until 2006, Stephen founded and served as the director of ALDF’s successful s law professional and law student members and pro bono opportunities for attorneys and firms to
assist ALDF with its mission. At the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Steve saw an opportunity to expand into law schools and involve attorneys directly, providing additional resources and pro bono connections. He helped stop wild animal trainers in Los Angeles from abusing primates in a landmark lawsuit. He helped to set up a sanctuary for hundreds of animals in the infamous North Carolina Woodley hoarding case. Stephen has also raised significant funds to create the ALDF Fellowship program and
helps ALDF fund an expanding vision for the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School. When Stephen started, ALDF had no litigation staff, house litigation program which, with the help of his new litigation director, Carter Dillard, allowed ALDF to quadruple its caseload. Stephen
expanded the Animal Law Program and helped to exponentially expand the student chapters (SALDF) of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. stop schedule and dedicated drive, trueCOWBOYmagazine got a lasso on him for this interview.
20 Answers
from Stephen Wells
Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund
tCm: You're originally from Chicago, my kind of town, did you have animals as
a child?
SW: Yes. I grew up with cats and our dog. These pets were my initial exposure
to animals as a child but I always felt a strong connection to all animals, all of
my life.
tCm: After leaving Chicago and before moving to Northern California, your
current residence, you lived in Alaska. What did you do there and for how long?
SW: I went to Alaska with the intention of cleaning up and helping with the
Exxon-Valdez Oil spill catastrophe. That experience and the pristine beauty of
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the Alaskan frontier had a profound effect on me and my life choices. I decided
to stay in Alaska for a while. I went back to school there and worked part time
for a wildlife protection group. It became clear to me what I had to offer was my
business background as I observed that business skills were really needed in the
non-profit world. I was offered a position with the Alaska Wildlife Alliance that
I accepted and stayed on for seven years ultimately expanding it. I've been
fortunate ever since to make my love for animals my work.
tCm: I understand you lived in a cabin through the winter while in Alaska
without running water or electricity, were you alone as well?
SW: Yes, that's true. And, no I wasn't alone. I was with my then girlfriend and
we spent an entire winter there after the Exxon-Valdez Oil spill. We traveled
all over Alaska that winter and really got to know the state. Spring came, she
left to go back to school and I decided to stay in Alaska. Shortly after that, in
1990, I moved to Anchorage to attend school and work. I actually missed a job
interview because I was trapped by a mother bear and her cubs. When I
explained those circumstances to the person I was to interview with, they
completely understood. That is life in Alaska.
tCm: I know you are a vegan. Have you always been one?
SW: Oh, no. I grew up in Chicago with a traditional meat diet. Both my parents
were originally from farm country. When I was 14, my dad taught me to shoot
and we would go hunting. Shooting animals went against my moral grain and
love of animals. So hunting and shooting didn't last long. Initially, I went vegan
for purely environmentally reasons. Then I began to realize the horrific life that
farmed food animals lived and that strongly moved my decision to become a
vegan. I have been vegan for seventeen years now and vegetarian for twenty
years.
tCm: Did you have a vegan restaurant years back?
SW: Yes, it was called "Sparks" and it was located in Guerneville, California.
I had that business for five years. After I became a vegan I realized one of the
biggest road blocks to people eating a plant-based diet was that they were
unaware and didn't know the depth of what they could eat and the delicious
meals they could make with available plant-based foods. A lot of people also felt
they would be giving up things they loved to eat, namely meat, and that it was a
sacrifice for them. But that isn't true. If you think of not eating meat as
something you are "giving up", then your understanding of the detrimental
effects eating farmed animals has on your health needs to change, along with
your awareness of the cruelty of slaughter. Besides, I wasn't a particularly good
cook.
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Spreading cheese on food was my crutch. The restaurant was a hit because the
food was so good. There are so many great things to eat that are completely
meatless. My diet is much more diverse now than when I ate meat and I am
healthier for it.
tCm: Do you think that people, in general, have a disconnect with animals when
its comes to their own carnivorous diets?
SW: Yes I do. I think all of us are raised with cultural norms that we adopt as
kids and most go through our lives without questioning them. We all have
fundamental needs to survive and live. There are animals that sleep in our beds
and who we consider "family" and there are other animals we consider food. It
is an unexamined viewpoint. Rightfully, people are horrified when they learn
cats, dogs and horses are eaten in other countries but don't connect that they are
eating cows, pigs, chickens etc. We don't allow for that same consideration in
regard to all animals. But if you spend time with these "edible" animals, you
will learn that they are similar to our own pets. It's tough because social norms
are very difficult to go against. I believe that viewpoint is changing immensely
and daily worldwide. I never imagined myself being a vegan. It took a lot of
personal soul searching. I do observe that more and more people are questioning
what they eat in regard to their health and animal welfare. Cultural change takes
time. I remain hopeful.
tCm: When did you become fully involved with animal and environmental
protection as your life's work?
SW: As a teenager. I started working for animal non-profits and my
entreprenurial spirit matched well with my love of animals and protecting them.
My life’s path led me to the Animal Legal Defense Fund where I hold the
position of Executive Director.
tCm: Are you an attorney?
SW: I'm not, nope.
tCm: What is your educational background?
SW: I attended college for journalism and public communications. That didn't
lead me to do what I do now though. My love of animals did that. I have
always been entreprenurial and had my first successful business when I was 19
years old. I applied my entreprenurial spirit to animal welfare as I observed that
the non-profit sector needed a business structure if it was to be successful.
Like any successful business.
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tCm: Was there a gap in animal and environmental protection that you felt
needed a legal arm?
SW: Yes. When I worked at the Alaska Wildlife Alliance there was a lot of
environmental legal protection work. I became experienced in the legal work
and law very quickly, out of necessity, and implementing it in managing that
organization with effective legal actions. Hunting and trapping have clear
legal processes that state agencies have to go through so that gave us alot of
strategies to get things right. I developed more animal rights understanding
protecting the environment because wild animals, especially wolves and bears
in Alaska, are part and parcel of the environment and neither is separate from
the other. Animals are families with bonds. Wolves mate for life as do so
many other species. And these animals' survival, and their lives, was a huge
part of the environmental ethics I worked in.
tCm: What is the state of animal law currently?
SW: Animal law is very much behind the times and a good thirty years behind
environmental law. But there are so many opportunities to push animal law
forward. The animal rights movement has done a good job to educate and help
people make more positive choices. But there are still those people that
exploit animals for the sake of money.
tCm: What is the Animal Legal Defense Fund?
SW: The Animal Legal Defense Fund works to bring the laws to protect and
preserve animals into the present. It is a great opportunity, and honor, for me as
the ALDF Executive Director to be part of a team of compassionate,
well-educated people working to help and protect the weakest among us; all the
animals. ALDF consists of several different programs all that have a legal
focus led by the law. Its not solely about cats and dogs or food animals. We are
about the law focused on those issues and cases where we can do the most good
using the laws on the books or setting precedence. ALDF is involved in animal
law enforcement and training to handle animal cruelty. We have had amazing
results prosecuting these cruelty cases and individuals who perpetrate animal
cruelty. We are the only animal rights organization that is a member of both the
National District Attorney's Association and the Association of Prosecuting
Attorneys. That advantage gives us great credibility as we are the ones that can
take them by the hand and help them win cases and forward education. We are
the place "where the rubber meets the road", so to speak. The ALDF is strongly
involved in filing lawsuits as well, our litigation program. We filed a successful
lawsuit that freed the bear, who had been living in an ice cream truck for years,
to a sanctuary and are now working to free Tony the Tiger.
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We also sue company's like those farming ducks for foie gras. We set out to set
a precedence to existing laws for all kinds of animals and especially where there
is animal cruelty. We also create law where it doesn't exist already in our
Criminal Justice Program in conjunction with our Legislative Program to build
model laws that we seek to pass. ALDF is the only organization that has
overturned AG laws in Utah and Idaho via lawsuits. Very big cases.
tCm: What is the ALDF Pro-bono program?
SW: I saw that there were alot of existing practicing lawyers that cared deeply
about animals and knew there had to be a way to get them involved in our legal
actions. This idea evolved into our pro-bono program where lawyers help us
without retainers or fees, pro-bono. We have almost 5000 individual attorneys
and more than 1500 law firms working with ALDF. In 2012 we began
measuring the dollar value of this work and the numbers were astonishing.
These lawyers donated the approximate value of $1,200,000 in pro bono work.
And that number increased every succeeding year. In 2015, the projection is
$8,000,000.00 in pro bono work.
tCm: How does ALDF get its funding?
SW: Overwhelming we are member funded. The vast majority of our funding,
83% last year, came from individuals. Followed by estates, money bequeathed to
us upon one's death. Some people leave us their legacies and alot of our funding
comes from foundation grants stemming from relationships we've built over the
years with individuals. The power of one. We couldn't do what we do without
our donors.
tCm: What is the SALDF?
SW: Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. Another opportunity I saw was in the
law schools. Actually I saw two things, one was in the law schools as I saw a lot
of interest from law students who wanted to help animals and were inspired by
ALDF. We came up with the idea of having students organize charters within
the law schools to get students and faculty involved in 2000-2001. We started
with 6 chapters and now have 201 chapters in the US, Canada and New Zealand.
All the major laws schools now have a SALDF curriculum including Harvard,
Stanford and Yale. And the second thing, when universities started offering
animal law courses, ALDF started offering grants to the adjunct teachers to teach
animal law in these universities. It has been a huge success. Animal Law is a
serious curriculum in the law schools. We need to saturate the legal profession
with awareness that animal laws are in the dark ages. Its absurd the way animals
are treated by our laws. People care alot more about animals then our laws
reflect. Graduating with a degree to practice animal law needs to be as
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important as graduating with an environmental law degree. Some of these
graduating, young lawyers will go into politics taking their animal law degree
and education with them to effectively make legislative change from the inside
of our government. That is the long-term vision, aside from all the legal work
we currently do.
tCm: I noticed on the ALDF website that your executive staff is comprised of
three very strong women. It seems to me that there are more women in animal
welfare and rescues than men. Have you noticed that?
SW: Yes I have. I would add bluntly there are more women than men in every
aspect of every social progress movement. Even our ALDF donors are
overwhelming women. I can't say I have direct knowledge as to why that is but
my feeling is that there is a well-stream of women who have an inherently
protective and nurturing attitude. ALDF co-founder, Joyce Tischler, served as
it’s executive director for twenty-five years. Joyce is our general counsel
responsible for in-house legal matters, as well as writing, lecturing on, and
promoting the field of animal law. Joyce continues to be a vital part of ALDF
and to me as it's ED. I am very grateful for her and that. Although we do have a
good balance of men and women, our leadership is definitely strong women.
Look at how many powerful women started animal advocacy groups and
rescues. Visionaries. But I do see that changing and a lot of young male students
getting involved. A fantastic thing.
tCm: Who is Eve?
SW: Eve my wonderful dog. She is the light of my life. She was found stray in
Mendocino county and was taken to the only shelter there. My friend took her
in the nick of time as it was her last day and she was scheduled to be eu-
thanized. My friend asked me if I would foster Eve and I said no as I had so
many dogs. But I had a change of mind, and heart, and did I take Eve. But
believe me, it was not love at first sight. Eve was a mess both physically and
mentally. She had separation anxiety and bad manners. But I could see the
sweetness in her and knew she needed love and understanding. I had a
wolf-mix that I had adopted from Alaska, Phantom, when I brought Eve home.
He was formidable but a troubled soul full of insecurity. An outsider. I always
felt bad about that. When I got Eve he was an old dog then. Eve adored him and
mimicked his every move. Eventually, he came to adore her to and for the first
time in his life he had another dog look up to him. They had about two years
together before he passed away. Phantom was funny and had all these weird
behaviors. Like when he rode in the car, he would stand in the middle of the car
and bark at big trucks, bridges and puddle splashes.
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They all had to be barked at. Eve witness this and after he passed, and now,
Eve does the very same thing. Phantom taught her those behaviors and he had
a fan club of one in Eve in the last years of his life. He never had this before
her with any other dog. Eve and I became an unfolding love story and the
more secure she felt and realized she would be fed, loved and have a warm bed
at night, then her personality came out. Her sweet nature came out and she is
just a doll. She comes to work with me everyday. She is good with other
animals and with people. Eve is practically surgically attached to me and she
is still full bore energy! We have formed an incredibly strong bond.
tCm: What do you do to relax?
SW: Well, my big loves, not necessarily in order, are sailing and hiking. I
bought a 1972 sail boat that I actually get to sail and sleep on from time to time.
Eve and I hike as often as we can. My work is my passion but you do have to
unplug sometimes. I give that advise to everyone that does this kind of work,
take care of yourself first in order to take care of others.
tCm: When the time comes, how do you want your tombstone to read?
SW: That's a good question! Ya know, I have a very busy head. I think most of
us do in this kind of work. It involves caring about so much: animals, human
rights, the environment, the government. I am like that. Although animals are
my biggest passion, personally. I would like my tombstone to say, "He was a
compassionate man". I would like to be remembered for that, if I am
remembered at all.
tCm: Is there anything else you want to say to our readers?
SW: If I had to say anything in summary, I would say that in doing this work
there are a lot of things to be very heartbroken and feel down and hopeless
about. But try to remember that any action we take, must be taken with
thoughtfulness and compassion to make a difference in the world. And that is
the hope for the future. Through the bad days and terrible things, remember
there are a lot of positive, good things happening in the world. Just keep putting
one foot in front of the other with thoughtfulness and compassion.
tCm: Your work is priceless and you are highly respected. You, as Executive
Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and all the incredible staff and
pro-bono lawyers have positively changed the way the world treats its animals.
It's an honor to know you. Thank you Stephen.
www.ALDF.org
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Where Have All The Horses Gone?
by "Calamity" Cate Crismani
Did you know that in the last forty years 50% of the world's wild species has
been decimated? Wiped off the planet. Never to be seen again except in books or
on the internet. In one word, extinct. It is a fact. Another fact, the decimation is
still going on now taking its toll on the wild horses and burros roaming freely on
the ranges in ten states in the U.S.A. by the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) under the Department of Interior (DOI). These are the very same
government departments that are suppose to manage the public lands for
diversity and multiple use. The public lands. The very departments tasked with
protecting and preserving the wild horses and burros and their freedom to exist
on public lands un-harassed, according to The Wild Horse Annie Act of 1959
(TWHA Act) and the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971
(WFRH&B Act). The latter was signed into law by Richard M. Nixon, our
president at that time.
Both the Wild Horse Annie Act and the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros
Act were put in place to stop aggressive and inhumane roundups of these wild
animals while granting them the legal right to live freely, un-harassed, on public
lands. So what went wrong? The BLM produced its own video to justify these
brutal roundups. According to the video, in the ‘50s, they employed small
planes. TWHA Act of 1959 effectively banned the use of small planes to
conduct the roundups. A few short years later, and currently, helicopters are
being used, replacing small planes, to continue the roundups. These helicopters
are owned by private individuals, contracted by the BLM at exorbitant rates,
paid for by the taxpayers, you and me. Statistics reveal there are more wild
horses and burros in short-term holding pens than exist freely in the wild. These
captured horses are being sustained by the almighty tax dollar as well which
amounts to millions every year.
To add insult to injury, the WFRH&B 1971 Act was amended in the eleventh
hour by Senator Burns who slipped an omnibus clause into it without public
input, knowledge or approval. This clause stated that captured wild horses and
burros could be sold "without restriction". Those two words changed the
intention and purpose of the WFRH&B Act and opened the door for "kill
buyers" to purchase the once free roaming wild horses and burros for slaughter
and human consumption overseas. Yup, people in parts of Europe and Asia eat
horse meat. Although there are no horse slaughter houses in the U.S.A., yet, the
kill buyers figured out a way around that one.
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They simply pack the horses and burros like sardines into huge trucks, with poor
or no ventilation, and drive them across the borders of Mexico and Canada to
slaughter for profit and human consumption overseas.
Per the BLM's own website, in "Fiscal Year 2012, out of 10,350 wild horses and
burros gathered, a total of 80 animals, or approximately three-quarters of one
percent (0.77 percent), died or were euthanized during gather operations; of
those 80, 22 animals, or about one-fifth of one percent (0.21 percent) of the
gathered animals, died or were euthanized because of acute injuries. Acute
injury deaths include all animals that died or were euthanized because of acute
injuries, such as spinal cord or head injuries, fractured limbs, or other severe
injuries that occurred during gathers. Total deaths include all animals that died
or were euthanized for any reason during gathers, including acute or sudden
injuries or illnesses, as well as chronic or pre-existing conditions that required
euthanasia (such as limb deformities, lameness, and poor body condition)".
These are stale-dated statistics from 2012. Although the 2015 roundup schedule
is posted on the BLM website, current mortality rates are not for the years
between 2012 to present time.
Logically, and alternatively, none of these wild horses and burros would have
had to die if they weren't being harassed and chased at high speeds by
helicopters. Young foals cannot keep up with the herd and snap their legs off,
left to die on the range. Pregnant mares abort their unborn foals under this stress
and duress. Wild horse advocates have witnessed these roundups first hand.
They have photos and videos of helicopters clipping the horses as they run in
fear, at unsustainable high speeds for miles over rugged terrain, while being
pursued within inches by the helicopters. Further, and it's a matter of record,
advocates have been barred from viewing these roundups on public land. Public
land. Begs the question, why?
If you watch this BLM video, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAmKRCH6908
you will hear the voice-over saying these wild horses are living on "millions of
acres of public land". Millions of acres. You will see healthy, beautiful herds of
wild horses roaming freely on a landscape of "millions" of acres while the
voice-over expounds on their beauty and value as historical treasures. Yet, at the
same time, the BLM claims the wild horses and burros are overpopulating as
they have no natural predators.
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On that note, the wild ones' natural predators are mountain lions, wolves and
bears. Need I remind you, mountain lions, wolves and bears are "trophy"
hunted yearly. Its called "hunting season" condoned by the BLM and DOI. Yet
another travesty the BLM justifies by claiming these animals are overpopulating
as well. A highly effective broad stroke by the BLM. But I digress. So, yes, the
wild horses and burros natural predators have been dramatically reduced on
millions of acres of public lands. These animals are only doing what nature
intended them to do, survive.
Simply stated, the BLM has some clever public relations people on board.
The BLM bases the removal of the wild horses and burros on what they have
named "Herd Management Areas" (HMA) and "Appropriate Management
Levels (AML). But who is determining those numbers? The BLM and the DOI.
That's like having the cat babysit the canary. I think we all know how that will
turn out.
Horses have existed on this planet for millions of years. Well before humans.
Their equine ancestors, according to fossils found in North America and around
the world, were much smaller with tri-cloven hooves. As a matter of survival,
they evolved into the modern-day horse of which we are all familiar. Strong,
big, sentient, hoofed animals able to carry double their own weight on their
backs. Prehistoric man and horses have coexisted for millions of years. Horses
and burros were domesticated to serve mankind for centuries. We have
employed them in our wars, to build our railroads, as transportation to move us
from the east to the west to settle new frontiers. A person could be hung for
stealing horses in the 18th and 19th centuries. And, yes, we have eaten them in
times of famine and war. Today horses are used for sport, pleasure and
companionship. Cars have "horsepower" and trains, during the Industrial
Revolution, were called "Iron Horses".
Wild horses and burros travel up to forty miles a day natively for survival. They
stay in one spot for a very short time. As prey animals, it's inherently in their
best survival interest to roam. Their roaming nature contributes to our eco-
system. Their droppings carry seeds they have ingested to new areas miles away
where these seeds then grow into plants and foliage. Horses only eat the tips of
the grass never pulling up the roots. In contrast, cattle stand all day in one spot
eating the grass right down to the dirt, roots and all, leaving nothing but barren
land.
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So what is really going on? Follow the money. Cattle ranching, fracking,
urban development, mineral and metal exploitation, hunting and corporate
greed have all taken their toll on the wild horses and burros on public land.
Frankly, on all of nature and its inhabitants, including humans. The wild horse
and burro advocates are up against strong opposition and pro-lobbying groups
for the NRA, the cattle and meat industry, corporate oil drilling and natural gas
fracking, which, I might add, uses millions of gallons of water to keep the
boring drills cooled off, along with uranium mining to produce plutonium. You
do know that plutonium is a radioactive metal, produced from uranium, and
used to manufacture nuclear weapons? And that both plutonium and uranium
are nuclear reactor fuels? And that both are extremely radioactive and deadly?
All of these groups are very powerful and very well-heeled.
The wild horse advocates have no lobbying group and very little financial
strength to hire one. Most spend and donate out of their own pockets to support
the waning, but needed, legislative changes. Meanwhile back at the ranch, our
government continues to ignore and violate existing laws, in place for years, to
protect the wild horses and burros to live freely and un-harassed. Getting the
picture now?
Wild horse and burro advocates are constantly on guard and on roundup sites in
protest. Petitions run rampant on change.org and other petition sites demanding
an end to these inhumane roundups. Although some have been effectively
stopped with lawsuits, the roundups continue ad nauseam.
Yet, wild horses are considered American Icons, even by the BLM. Much like
the American Bald Eagle who came very close to extinction. It is, and has been
for years, a felony to kill one bald eagle.
And yet, with the deck stacked against them, the wild horse and burro advocates
continue to fight the good fight. These dauntless folks are the only voice for the
protection and preservation of these majestic animals to live freely and
un-harassed. So they press on with the belief that the price of freedom is
constant alertness and the willingness to fight back. Most times in doing so,
tragically, lives are lost; the lives of the mighty wild horses and burros.
And their freedom, along with ours, is lost with it.
(Ignorance is not bliss. Knowledge is power.)
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32
A HORSE FOR THE SOUL
By Cameron Ashley Smith
You bite, you kick, you lay your ears back and roll your eyes in a way that I
could only dream of doing in order to brandish profound disdain. Some might
say you never learned manners. I say you know how to express yourself. It is
my duty to learn how to communicate with you, to engage with you in a
partnership that satisfies us both.
Is this interaction with a horse so different from a relationship with a human
being? We are caustic, recalcitrant and we can
gesture disapproval graver than any stated phrase
with barely the turn of a head and a look in the eye.
We love, we long to love, we think we might love,
and we lie down sobbing when we think we might
never love again. Horses, by contrast, only know
love when it is in the air: in the present moment,
admitted or concealed. They also know and feel
fear, grief, anger and any other emotion that present
moment may hold. Being around a horse shines new
light on soulful living.
My earliest definition of what a soul is developed at
a very young age, probably five or six years old.
It was a fluffy, cloud-like gray thing that was
loosely rolled up inside the body of every living
thing, and it gave that thing its “aliveness”. It also
had a component of character. I believed there was something about each soul
that was the reason for no two people or animals being exactly alike.
On the farm where I grew up, the horses were distinct in personality and
inclination; they played and fought and took care of one another just like
people. In fact, it seemed to me, better than people. Around horses, I never
wondered whether or not they liked me or whether I was good enough. Due to
the farm’s distance from any neighbors, who might have been playmates, I
spent more time in the fields with the horses after school and on weekends then
I did with other children.
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I was convinced for several years that I had simply been born into the wrong
body; I believed I was a horse, and that underneath my 50 pound, two-legged
frame and their 1,000-pound, four-legged frames, was exactly the same fluffy,
gray, magical, life-giving soul.
The most pleasantly outstanding aspect of my childhood was growing up with
horses. They were my friends, my family, and my inspiration. I wandered freely
among them in the fields, munching clover and licking salt blocks, feeling at
peace and as one with any group or community as I had ever felt. That first
moment when they would lift their heads from busily grazing to acknowledge
my arrival might as well have been a moment when crowds cheered for the
Queen as she made a public appearance.
Horses warded off loneliness, lack and
feeling “less than.” They were good
company and even better teachers. The first
time I witnessed a foal emerge from a mare,
I was completely in awe of the wet, pale
grayish, shuddering blob that appeared, and
within minutes became a perfect little
newborn horse. That was magic. The
patience, attention and care that mother
demonstrated from those first moments of
life defined for me a way of being that I had
not been shown anywhere else.
When my family moved to the city, I was
eleven years old and completely devastated.
I locked myself in my room and did nothing
but draw horses for days. That move was my
first experience with the agony of loss and the pain of transition. I vowed then
that somehow I would be reunited with the horses and I would never forget what
they meant to me.
As one does in life in order to survive, I adapted. Although I was able to visit
and ride my cousin’s horses for several years, I developed close friendships with
classmates, discovered boyfriends, and eventually learned to see the tenderness
and devotion my own mother had for my brother and me. Yet every time I so
much as saw a photo of a horse, a current of emotion and a yearning surged
through me.
34
The path my life took during the years away from horses led me through music,
art, photography, political activism, and eventually to a steady corporate sector
job in Human Relations. It seemed I had committed myself to searching for that
which I found truly inspiring and meaningful in life. Somewhere along the line,
I turned to seeking safety and stability in physical and mental terms only. I
convinced myself that marriage, a house with a yard and a spare bedroom, and a
climb up the corporate ladder would equate to a fulfilling and joyous life.
Instead of achieving the American trumped up version of nirvana, my life began
to feel incontrovertibly awful.
When I had just about lost touch with
my soul’s desire entirely, I began having
visions of horses. Daydreams and night
dreams filled my psyche with the four-
legged friends who had been my first
community as a child. I would drag my
listless body to my office each morning,
forcing myself to perform the duties of
my job at an advertising company in a
large city. There was still a part of me
that was escaping into the old back field
with the babbling brook, where I would
eat clover and paw at the cold water
with the horses. I began to think
incessantly about a life in which I
worked with horses to connect people
to whatever it is in the world that makes
life worth living.
I had no idea what that life would look
like. I knew what horses had done for me to connect me to a sense of comfort
and belonging many years ago, and that I was sure there would be a way, with
the guidance and generosity of the horses, to bring relationship to the discon-
nected and to introduce possibility to the demoralized.
Though I was not conscious of it at the time, the horses were saving me once
again. I was completely disconnected and nearly hopeless. The horses salvaged
my link to my own soul. There is no enduring safety and stability in a one or
two-dimensional life where the deep longing of the soul, the calling to embody
one’s core values and beliefs, is ignored.
35
Once I started
down the trail of
bringing horses
back into my life,
I was amazed
again and again at
how solutions to
seemingly
insurmountable
problems would
spring up and clear
the way. There was
a way to divorce
amicably and remain friends with my husband. There was a career path with
horses that was a growing industry globally. There was the granting of my
greatest wish: adopting horses of my own and living among them.
One of the first horses I wanted was one I was asked to assess for a friend of
mine who was building a youth program for learning with horses. I went to meet
the horse, Taj, with the firmly held conviction that I would not “like” the horse. I
would not allow any personal feelings or opinions to enter into my professional
assessment of whether the horse would be suitable for her and her program.
Taj had been abandoned at the ranch where she was living, perhaps with the
hope that she would blend quietly into the large herd that lived there in some 60
acres of pasture, causing no great impact to the ranch owner or anyone else.
What occurred was, within six months, Taj dropped about a hundred pounds,
increased her windsucking habit, and did not integrate well with the other horses
and their established herd.
When I first led the chestnut paint mare from her stall, she seemed delightfully
eager to follow me, on the lead line and off, at a walk and a trot, all around the
arena. She gladly stood to be groomed and petted. Despite her dull coat,
protruding ribs, and being riddled with ticks, she had a regal quality about her
and I could see her strength and beauty outshining her poor condition. For the
next few days, I watched her closely, and moved her in and out of her stall,
feeding her extra hay and doing basic activities on the ground. I noticed that, in
addition to her windsucking habit, she also had a habit of pinning her ears and
throwing her head forward in a warning gesture if I approached her while she
was eating.
36
Still, there was something in this mare that craved connection and interaction. On
the third day, as I walked her back to her stall, one of the students at the ranch
entered the barn and asked me, “Is that your horse?”
I distinctly remember suppressing the word “YES,” which was ready to burst forth
with the emotion of a child wishing something impossible to be true. “No,” I replied
with the most professional, grown-up voice I could muster, “I am assessing this
horse for a friend’s program.”
The next day I called my friend, Jane, and told her that I saw a lot of potential in this
mare, but to restore her health and to tap into that potential would require a lot of
time and attention. In my opinion, given that Jane was already stretched thin on time
and energy, she would be overburdening herself if
she were to adopt Taj. “But,” Jane insisted, “Does
your gut say that she could be a good horse for my
kind of program?” I paused, trying to weed out
that fact that I wanted this horse to be in my life,
and that being in Jane’s program would accom-
plish that. Ultimately, I responded with what I had
felt from the moment I first walked her into the
arena, removed her lead line, and experienced her
attentiveness and curiosity as she stood with me
when I was still, and moved with me whenever I
walked or jogged. “With adequate care, yes, I
think she could be quite wonderful”.
What followed was a series of events so
unexpected that the word “coincidence” could not
even be considered to describe any of it. Jane had
just made the decision to take a leave of absence
from her corporate job and felt that would allow her the time she needed to invest in
this horse. She didn’t have the funds to ship the horse to where she lived. A man in
her coaching class heard her story and, without hesitation, offered to lend the mon-
ey. About two weeks later, Taj was hauled to the farm where Jane boarded her hors-
es. Jane asked me to join her in meeting the trailer upon arrival since I would be a
familiar face. I happily agreed and walked Taj from the trailer to her new home that
frosty, December morning. For the next three days, I spent as much time as possible
with Taj acclimating her to the new environment. On the fourth day, I received a text
from Jane that read, “I am in the hospital. I fell off my roof and broke my back.”
Without hesitation and completely disregarding all the fears I had about not having
my life in good enough order to have horses, I adopted Taj.
37
That skinny, unhappy paint mare has proven to be one of the greatest teachers I have
ever met, both for me and for my clients of all ages. We have had our share of
communication breakdowns, resulting in biting, kicking and the elevating of eye
rolling to new heights. However, once we figured each other out and she began her
new job, I started to see her attentiveness and curiosity manifest tenfold. She is being
asked for her opinion as a horse, working with people who are interested in learning
about themselves from her feedback, and she is respected for the subtle, and,
sometimes, not-so-subtle way she speaks with her body.
Taj has helped me time and time again to create an environment in which we offer an
avenue to connect with the world, with others and with one’s self in new ways, or
ways people haven’t considered before.
Sometimes this includes dreaming together, which is
one of her preferred methods of helping people clear
their cluttered, hyperactive minds and experience the
kindred closeness of animal bodies in a state of
relaxation, opening a channel to the soul’s calling.
The common ground we stand on is that horses and
human beings crave connection. Horses may not
name it nor categorize it, but they experience
emotion. Emotion is energy, and horses experience
and respond to energetic shifts as a matter of
survival. One noteworthy difference is that horses
are always willing to show what they feel, to act in
response to that energy and to allow that emotion to
move through them. People have tried to master the
craft of masking and containing emotion
conveniently filtering out their unwanted effects.
We may have thought it was a survival mechanism to deny, undercut and short-circuit
our feelings. What we didn’t count on was the inextricable link between our
mental-emotional state and both our bodies and our souls.
Science continues to delve into the study of the mind-body-soul connection, and
particularly to acknowledge the effects of emotional stress on physical health, ranging
from aggravating existing health problems and elevating to potential disease. We
have not widely embraced the study of the mind-body-soul connection yet, but when
we do, perhaps we can begin to address and embrace the elusive yet potent driving
force within us. Call it intuition, inner knowing, a fluffy, gray roll of magic or simply
call it your soul. Whatever you choose to call it, just call it.
38
39
40
Every picture tells a story, don’t it?
These images are from the 2015 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) winter
round-up schedule.
After ten weeks of non-stop travel, when you finally have a chance to sit still, it
hits you from behind like a tidal wave. Image after image, mile after mile, all
flood back to you:
The frightened, new baby left wandering alone to be picked up near a small
community after the Humboldt round-up. The beautiful face of a mare at Little
Fish Lake that gently raised herself up after captured to lean forward for one
last look at home before being pushed down to the trailer that removed her
forever from the range. The terrified faces of wild horse families I have come
to know and love staring back at me from holding pens.
At Fish Creek, on the day that almost 200 wild horses were to be returned to
the range, Eureka County and local ranchers filed an Interior Board of Land
Appeals claim to stop their release. A plan to track and gather data as
recommended by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) stopped in its
tracks by a rancher that has been in trespass all year, running his cattle for 12
months, when he only had a permit to do so for four in the Fish Creek HMA.
Learn what you need to know and what you are not being shown at
www.wildhorseeducation.org
Every Picture tells a story By Laura Leigh
41
It was like falling into an old western movie with packing black hats attempting
to keep their interests, their only interest, on your public land.
We are actively engaged in dealing with getting the Fish Creek horses returned
to the range. We are actively engaged in changing the way our public lands are
pounded by cloven hooves, cattle, to the detriment of everything that lives on
our western landscape.
We continue to work for the wild ones human handling and access.
But for now, we sit and remember winter 2015.
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“Remembering a peaceful time, when they were free to roam and be; graceful
mare, curious foal. We will always fight for you mighty wild horses. You will
be forever in our hearts and imprinted in our soul.”
Vivo Los Mustangs!
Calamity Cate Crismani
46
Costs and Consequences: The Real Price of Livestock Grazing
on America’s Public Lands
Livestock Grazing on Public Lands Cost Taxpayers $1 Billion Over Past Decade
WASHINGTON— A new analysis finds U.S. taxpayers have lost more than $1 billion over the past decade on a program that allows cows and sheep to graze on public land. Last year alone taxpayers lost $125 million in grazing subsidies on federal land. Had the federal government charged fees similar to grazing rates on non-irrigated private land, the program would have made $261 million a year on average rather than operate at a staggering loss, the analysis finds.
The study, Costs and Consequences: The Real Price of Livestock Grazing on America’s Public Lands, comes as the Obama administration announces its grazing fees for the upcoming year on 229 million acres of publicly owned land, most of it in the West. The report was prepared by economists on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Public lands grazing has been a billion-dollar boondoggle over the past decade and hasn’t come close to paying for itself,” said Randi Spivak with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Livestock owners pay less to graze their animals on publically owned land in 2014 than they did in 1981. Today the monthly cost of allowing a cow and calf to graze on federal lands is about the equivalent of a can of dog food. This damaging and expensive grazing program has been broken for years and needs to be fixed. Taxpayers, and the land we all own, deserve better.”
The gap between federal grazing fees and non-irrigated private land rates has widened considerably, according to the study. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service grazing fees are $1.35 per month per animal unit (a cow and a calf), just 6.72 percent of what it would cost to graze livestock on private grazing lands. This is a marked decline from the federal fee being 23.79 percent of non-irrigated private rates when the federal fee first went into effect in 1981.
47
“The fees for grazing on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands needs to be seriously reevaluated,” said Christine Glaser, an economist with Green Fire Consulting and author of the report. “Over the past three decades the fee formula has clearly decoupled public grazing fees from the development of private, state and other federal agencies grazing fees. Bottom line, this formula shields public lands ranchers from grazing rate increases that every other livestock operator has to live with.”
There are about 800,000 livestock operators and cattle producers in the United States. Of those, fewer than 21,000 — or 2.7 percent of the nation’s total livestock operators — benefit from the Forest Service and BLM grazing programs in the West.
“The Public Rangeland Improvement Act subsidizes a small segment of the livestock industry,” said the study’s co-author and former Interior Department economist Chuck Romaniello. “There needs to be a discussion as to what the appropriate level of that subsidy should be, including if there should be a subsidy at all.”
The federal subsidy of the grazing program goes beyond the direct costs and fees. There are vast indirect costs to grazing on federal lands, including the government killing of native carnivores perceived as threats to wildlife, wildfire suppression caused by invasive cheat grass facilitated by cattle grazing, and expenditure of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds from protecting other species threatened by livestock grazing. “The full cost of the federal grazing program is long overdue for a complete analysis,” the study said.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation
organization with more than 800,000 members and online activists dedicated
to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
Contacts: Randi Spivak, (310) 779-4894, [email protected] Christine Glaser, (312) 613-2164 or [email protected]
Chuck Romaniello, [email protected]
48
49
48 Shades of
Simone Reyes I was born in New York City and grew up In
Greenwich Village. When I was little I
thought it was the center of the Universe and
that has never changed. My mother is Irish,
born and raised. My father is Spanish Filipi-
no. There is also some Chinese. Dad used to
say I was a mutt, which is my favorite breed,
its all good. My mix is hard to peg, nobody
can ever quite place it.
I moved to Los Angeles almost two years
ago. I have a house there since 2007 but
visited infrequently. I worked for Russell
Simmons as his Executive Assistant for
many years and now am the Director of
Television Development for Def Pictures.
When Russell said he wanted to turn his
attention to film and TV, I knew we would
end up here and here we are! A few years ago I had my own reality show,
RUNNING RUSSELL SIMMONS on Oxygen. We were able to break a million
viewers and get the animal rights agenda across to a lot of people.
I don’t think the question is why do I do animal rescue and advocacy. I think the
better question is why isn’t everyone else doing it. I simply do not understand
how anyone can sit back, watch modern day slavery in full effect and do
nothing.
I am on the Board of Social Compassion for Legislation, Peta named a sanctuary
after me in India, I am a Cove Guardian for Sea Shepherd. I have done ad
campaigns for Stray Cat Alliance, participated in campaigns for Mercy For
Animals and a PSA for Farm Sanctuary. The list goes on an on. I am an equal
opportunity activist!
I am on the board of Social Compassion for Legislation - this group is the little
engine that could. We are working on some amazing new legislation this year
and we are going to create real change for animals through and with the law.
50
51
52
53
54
Right now, my main focus is the barbaric practice of shipping baby chicks in the
mail. Many of the chicks are used as packing material to keep other birds warm.
Most people have no idea that you can purchase live baby chicks in the mail and
have them sent via USPS. Countless birds arrive suffering, crushed, stressed and
dead. It must stop. I won’t rest until it does.
Another issue was recently brought to my attention by the publisher of
trueCOWBOYmagazine, Cate Crismani. Each year, hundreds of thousands of
horses are crammed onto transport trucks and sent on grueling trips across the
border. My friends at PETA did an undercover investigation of one such transport
revealing that horses (thoroughbreds as well, previously used in racing ) being
shipped to Canada spent 36 hours on a truck in subfreezing conditions and were
not given rest, food, or a taste of water. Inside the slaughterhouse, workers shot
the horses in the head with a captive-bolt gun, but at least 40 percent of them
were still conscious after the first shot and had to be shot several times. Then they
were strung up by one leg, and their throats were slit. A full 80 percent of
Americans oppose horse slaughter. But just feeling that way won’t help.
Undercover investigations such as these are vital to our work.
Wild horse roundups make me physically ill. The thought of hunting, terrorizing
and kidnapping wild horses from their home, their birthright sanctuary, is beyond
horrific. The practice of making horses (or any sentient being) into food or
fertilizer is something future generations will look back on in pure shock and
disgust. There will be shame and guilt when we get to the point in history when
these horses are able to live free from harm. It will happen in much the same
way as women were granted the right to vote and slaves were given their
freedom. However, the fight will be hard. But we are up for it. And we won’t
stop until every horse is free to live their lives without human interference.
Wild horses should be able to roam freely with their families in exactly the same
way humans are free to raise their children. How dare humans take mothers
away from their fawns, fathers from their mates and tear apart families. Our
Karma as a human race has the bloodstains of every wild horse who been
rounded up and killed. It is our duty to make this right.
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act wasn’t passed which had provided
a hope of permanently ending the slaughter of American horses for food in 2012.
Senators and representatives from both sides have joined forces to sponsor the
S.A.F.E Act, preventing US horse slaughter and squash the loophole that
currently allows horses to be shipped to Mexico and Canada to be slaughtered.
That is what needs to happen now.
55
Please make a brief,
polite phone call to
your U.S.
Representative and
two U.S. Senators to
urge co-sponsorship
of the Safeguard
American Food
Exports (SAFE) Act.
Look up your
legislator's phone
number here. You
can say: "Please
co-sponsor and sup-
port H.R. 1094/S.
541, the Safeguard
American Food Ex-
ports (SAFE) Act, to
protect our nation's
horses and keep the
food supply safe for
consumers."
56
Sh
ot
at
Wil
dw
oo
d E
qu
estr
ian
Cen
ter
P
ho
tog
rap
her
: K
elle
Kin
g M
ak
e -u
p:
Ka
te C
hav
ez
Cre
ati
ve
dir
ecti
on
& s
tyli
ng
: C
ate
Cri
sma
ni
U
ber
h
ors
e: R
aid
eret
te
GO VEGAN!!
That doesn’t just include
what you put eat.
Live a vegan lifestyle. That
means stop wearing
animals, using animals for
entertainment, stop
swimming with dolphins,
stop going to “abusement”
parks, stop going to the
circus, stop giving money to
charities that fund animal
research. Live in a way
that does no harm. It will
save the planet, your health
and of course, the
animals.
57
Cre
ati
ve
dir
ecti
on
& s
tyli
ng
: C
ate
Cri
sma
ni
U
ber
h
ors
e: R
aid
eret
te
Animal cruelty exists because the
people have yet to rise. The
animal rights movement is mighty
and dedicated but we must fight even
louder for animals with the same
rabid determination that was used to
end slavery and grant women the
right to vote. We must grow our
numbers and be willing to engage in
civil disobedience and take to the
streets in an uprising that cannot be
denied. We must occupy every
slaughterhouse and laboratory. We
must never be silent. We must fund
this movement. We must understand
that literally billions of animals are
being slaughtered each year and this
is a crisis. Humans have waged a
war against animals. These
vulnerable creatures are denied
everything natural to them and are
horrifically tortured, legally. It is
time to wake u[ people and keep the
pressure on until these crimes are
stopped and ended permanently.
We cannot get complacent. We must
be warriors. We must never back
down. In suffering we are all equal.
Rise up, people. Rise Up.
We are the animals only hope.
Our movement is a social justice
movement . Animal rights is about
fairness and freedom for ALL.
www.facebook.com/
activistsimonereyes
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A seasoned horseman, Franklin Levinson has traveled the world teaching people how to listen to horses. He is the proprietor
and founder of Horse Whisperer Seminars, Ltd. An advocate for first perfecting the fundamentals of successful horsemanship,
Franklin was teaching his own gentle, effective horsemanship before ‘natural horsemanship
He is the author of Trust ‘n’ Horses; a two volume eBook that is available to download and guaranteed to increase your horse-
manship skills. Franklin also offers Horsemanship Videos, podcasts and more of his seminars and clinics around the world.
Franklin began his equestrian career at an early age, learning some trick riding and earning honors as the youngest registere
polo player in the United States at the age of 13. His father was also a polo player, traveling the circuit on the east coast
United States. During his 20’s, Franklin created and ran equestrian programs at large summer camps in Northern Michigan,
teaching riding skills and enabling children to learn the joys of horsemanship. He then journeyed to Hawaii and developed a
small ranch on the island of Maui where he created Adventures on Horseback (riding adventure) as well as
Whisperer, the first Equine Facilitated Learning program in the Pacific basin and one of the first in the US. In his clinics,
published essays and books, Franklin emphasizes the importance of developing trust and respect with horses and being
compassionate towards them. The foundation for Franklin’s mantra is that there are no naughty or bad horses. He has learned through experience with the horses themselves.
He favors the American Quarter Horse for their agility and disposition, and the Arabian for their beauty and intelligence; ho
breeds and varieties to his clinics and seminars. I spoke with Franklin on the phone after a day of training at his home in G
and semi-private equestrian lessons at The Riding Academy of Crete. Levinson’s credentials are extensive in the equine world of who
many magazines, radio and TV appearances, webinars, podcasts, and more for years. As an actor, he had the opportunity to be a
Dawn starring Jon Voight. His intense desire to be of service to humans and horses prompted him to recently create A Course i
learn his effective and efficient methods of horsemanship over the phone with emailed support.
iVIEW with Franklin Levinson and Gina McKnight
Gina McKnight: What is natural horsemanship?
Franklin Levinson: For me, natural horsemanship is basically a marketing term.
There is little that is natural about how we humans interact with horses. People
who get on a horse and scream at a horse and kick the horse are not going
anywhere. Folks who push a horse endlessly around a round pen, call what they
do natural horsemanship. It is not. I think people have to learn the psychology of
the horse first. To put someone on a horse who doesn’t know anything about
horses, how crazy is that? How unkind is that to the horse and the rider? I am a
real critic of some modern day riding instruction – as nothing about the needs,
language, psychology or emotional life of the horse is taught. You must gain
knowledge and trust first. Trusting it is safe is the single most important thing to a
horse. Here’s how I develop and gain trust. I handle the horse on the ground first
by asking for relatively simply movement which I guide and direct and then
reward all effort. After this, if all goes well I may attempt to ride him. You have to
help horses understand he doesn’t need to be afraid. The development of trust
59
has traveled the world teaching people how to listen to horses. He is the proprietor
An advocate for first perfecting the fundamentals of successful horsemanship,
natural horsemanship’ became a worldwide bandwagon.
; a two volume eBook that is available to download and guaranteed to increase your horse-
, podcasts and more of his seminars and clinics around the world.
Franklin began his equestrian career at an early age, learning some trick riding and earning honors as the youngest registered
polo player in the United States at the age of 13. His father was also a polo player, traveling the circuit on the east coast of the
s, Franklin created and ran equestrian programs at large summer camps in Northern Michigan,
teaching riding skills and enabling children to learn the joys of horsemanship. He then journeyed to Hawaii and developed a
(riding adventure) as well as The Maui Horse
, the first Equine Facilitated Learning program in the Pacific basin and one of the first in the US. In his clinics,
published essays and books, Franklin emphasizes the importance of developing trust and respect with horses and being
s mantra is that there are no naughty or bad horses. He has learned through experience with the horses themselves.
He favors the American Quarter Horse for their agility and disposition, and the Arabian for their beauty and intelligence; however, he loves all horses and welcomes all
breeds and varieties to his clinics and seminars. I spoke with Franklin on the phone after a day of training at his home in Greece. He and his wife, Ilona Staikou, teach private
s credentials are extensive in the equine world of who’s who. He has been showcased in
many magazines, radio and TV appearances, webinars, podcasts, and more for years. As an actor, he had the opportunity to be a principle character in the movie September
Dawn starring Jon Voight. His intense desire to be of service to humans and horses prompted him to recently create A Course in Horse Mentorship as a convenient way to
learn his effective and efficient methods of horsemanship over the phone with emailed support.
with Franklin Levinson and Gina McKnight
is my goal with all horses wherever I go. If you take the responsibility to train
the horse to trust you, you’re going to have a safer ride and a more effective and
fun experience. What I am trying to do is project a logical, common sense, down
to earth approach to horses. Trying to force someone through fear is not logical
to me and it makes no sense. Going slow, showing patience and compassion, to
me, is a better way to do this.
GM: You have had a very successful career and your program is outstanding.
When was the turning point in your career as a horse trainer?
FL: I did realize early on that if I taught the kids at the camps something about
the nature of horses, their needs and language, then everything went better and
became more successful for the kids and the horses. When I was at a ranch in
Colorado and I heard about a horse named Pete that was considered an outlaw
and dangerous. Pete had reared up and split his owner’s head open. Some guy
had gotten a rope on Pete and he dragged the guy because the guy had gotten the
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rope caught around his wrist. You could not tie Pete. He pulled down a shed, and
he wouldn’t load. When I first moved to this ranch in Aspen, I heard about Pete
and I wanted to see him. I went out and looked at him and he was standing very
sheepishly in the far end of the pasture. He was the cutest little horse I’d ever
seen He was just adorable. He was a little Appy Quarter Horse, flea-bitten grey.
You couldn’t get near him though. We managed to herd him into a round pen.
Then I realized we were not looking at a dangerous animal, we were looking at a
terrified animal. Once you stop judging a horse’s undesirable behavior as bad
and taking it personally and understand it is merely a symptom of fear, your ap-
proach might be a lot different than if you think he is just being bad. Because if
you think he is just being bad you might go to anger, force and punishment. Like
with a child who is afraid of something, you don’t want to swat the child and
say, ‘Get in there you little jerk.’ No. You’re going to take the child by the hand
and say, ‘Okay, Johnny, let’s do this together and see if it’s really that scary.’ So,
with Pete, I basically sat down in the middle of the round pen and just stayed
quietly there. The first day Pete would walk by me a little bit and come a little
closer. The next day I did the same thing and he would actually stop and give me
a little smell and check me out. The third day I was standing in the round pen
and he came over and checked me out. Eventually, I extended a hand out. He
sniffed the back of my hand. Then we did it again. At some point, he let me
touch his shoulder. He let me scratch him on his wither a little. I am a strong
believer in not applying a stimulus for very long; a few moments are all that is
needed. Keep your movement nice and smooth and relaxed. Don’t be jerky
about it or abrupt. It didn’t take long before I would walk over to where he was
standing and he would calmly start to walk off but not run away. That is what I
wanted. I wanted to take the spot that he was standing on for my own in a calm
way. I would do that for some time. I would walk to where he was, he would
walk off, then I would take the next spot where he was and he would walk off. It
didn’t take very long before he was looking at me continuously. Within 10 to 15
minutes, he just couldn’t take his eyes off me. It was all very calm and very qui-
et. At one point I just started to walk away and he followed me. Once he started
doing that, then things developed very fast. We started playing around in the
round pen a lot, a lot of liberty play. After he got really good at liberty, then I put
him on a line. I always start out a problem horse – a horse with issues – with
liberty play first, rather than try to put a rope on him to control him. I am not
really trying to control him. I wish to be his good and trusted leader. Being in a
round pen, he can’t go anywhere anyway. So, if you get good at liberty - the
direction you want, the speed you want, the kind of turns you want, following
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you, hanging with you - then go ahead and put a rope on him. That’s pretty
much how it went. The biggest problem I had with Pete is that he wouldn’t load.
I actually got him in a trailer to go on a trail ride. We took this beautiful ride into
the Colorado Mountains and then I couldn’t get him back in the trailer. We were
about 5 or 6 miles from the ranch. It was getting dark out. There was no way I
could get him in the trailer. So, I had to ride him in the dark along the main
road, which was no fun. After that I vowed I would take him to loading school.
I set my trailer up and started to work with him. It didn’t take too long before I
figured out what the issue was. The issue was that he didn’t want to pick his
feet up to hop up into the trailer. That’s really what it was. The first time he got
into the trailer was just luck. Then when he figured out he had to pick his feet up
to get into the trailer, he didn’t like it. So, I started taking him over logs. I found
some big logs and I began walking and lunging him, and then jumping him over
logs. After four hours, later in the day, he hopped right up in the trailer. He loved
to go places. We would go on a lot of adventures. It got to the point where I
could point to the trailer and he would hop up in it. The horse turned out really
great. He became a great personal horse for me. He was a real treat to ride. He
had a beautiful gate that could cover a lot of ground. He became a terrific horse
to help with my equine facilitated learning programs because he became light
and sensitive. Children, if they were introduced to him properly, as young as
four years of age could handle Pete at liberty and move him around the round
pen and hook on to him really easy. He was a great program horse that I used for
the Buddy Program, Make a Wish Program, etc. He was great. Pete’s retired
now in Colorado. Pete taught me how not to judge horses and understand their
resistance was merely symptomatic of fear. Pete put me on the map in Colorado.
GM: Bongo, your current sidekick, is a beautiful horse. He is very elegant and
graceful. When did you meet Bongo?
FL: When I first met Bongo two years ago, he had been abused. They couldn’t
catch him or get near him. He pulled back if he was tied. It didn’t take much to
scare this poor horse. He and I met and I took him into a clinic that I did here in
Crete a couple of years ago. We made quite a bit of progress in about an hour,
just asking for simple movement and rewarding his effort; throwing ropes
around him, and just kind of desensitizing him a little bit, getting him to come to
me, and feel good being with me. After we moved to Crete, about a year ago, I
started playing with him a lot. I started to teach him some tricks because I know
that trick training is a great way to connect with your horse and build a horse’s
confidence and trust. If you are going to use food you have to be very good
about setting boundaries around food. Most trainers use treats. You need to show
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the horse enough respect that he earns his treat. You don’t just give him a treat,
give him a treat, give him a treat. Let him earn it for effort at compliance and
cooperation. Anyway, Bongo and I became pals. I taught him a few simple
things like to get up on a box with all four feet, to kick a ball around, and to pick
up a foot on cue. Very simple stuff. He figured out pretty quickly that if I was
near him and he picked up his foot he would get a treat. I would simply walk by
the horse and he would pick up his foot when I didn’t want him to. So, I have to
caution people to reward only what you want, and not to reward what you don’t
want. In other words, when I walked by Bongo and he would pick up his foot, I
wouldn’t reward him, but when he put his foot down and stood patiently, then I
would give him a little treat. It was a small thing, but I became much more con-
scious about only rewarding what I wanted. What I wanted was for him to stand
still, not to pick up his foot. I do recommend tricks to deepen the bond with the
horse - to help build the horse’s confidence and self-esteem, and to develop a
better relationship. Also, it offers the horse something else to do so that he is not
just doing the same old same things all the time.
GM: One of your many clinics is on bridle-less riding. Going bridle-less is an
intimidating thought for many riders. What are the steps and techniques to
follow when learning to ride bridle-less?
FL: Yes, to ride bridle-less many folks go through a lot of fear. What can help is
to first of all, start riding in a small area, could be a round pen, maybe 15 to 17
meters across, that would be 50 to 60 feet across in diameter, or a small
paddock. You get rid of the bridle and put a rope halter on the horse with a lead
rope tied up like a rein. You start riding around the pen. If the horse starts to go
too fast you just ride it out, as he’s not going to go anywhere because you are in
a small confined area and he will want to slow and stop fairly soon. It won’t be
very long before you can sit down a little bit heavier, maybe sit back a little bit
and lift up that rein and then the horse is really going to slow down or stop. At
that point, that’s when you ask him to go a little farther and then you ask him to
stop again. Once you get the horse really good with stopping and turning with
just a lead rope and halter, put a neck rope on the horse. A rope that will go
around the horse that you can hold on to. You start riding with the rein in your
hand the neck rope in your hand like a double bridle, and then you start
controlling the horse and riding that way and eventually when you get real good
at it you can let go of the rein and just use the neck rope. Although it seems to
not be taught often or well, your cues are supposed to come from the proper use
of your seat. Your hands just reinforce the seat. It’s not kick to go and then pull
to stop. But, unfortunately, my experience is there are not a lot of teachers who
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GM: Riding bridle-less on the trail would require a lot of stamina and courage
FL: Well, more than stamina and courage, it requires skill and a properly trained
horse. You see a few riders that can do it out on trails. It takes quite a bit of time
to develop a horse that you have that much confidence in that it is not going to
take off with you when it gets a spook and it doesn’t have a bridle on. You have
to take it nice and slow. It may take a couple of years to develop that. That’s
okay. There are a lot of these guys that do these big extravaganza shows that use
a lot of liberty and a lot of bridle-less stuff. They raise their own horses. When
you’re raising your own horses, you can be with those horses every day and
when you are not worried about earning a living, it can go a lot faster.
GM: What are your opinions about the current state of the US Bureau of Land
Management’s handling of the Mustangs? What’s the solution?
FL: I think it’s disgraceful and awful. The cattle industry - the beef industry is
so prevalent that they can dictate what goes on with the Mustangs and move
them off of their natural range. Rounding up Mustangs and putting them in
already overcrowded stockyards is disgraceful. As far as a solution, it’s a tough
question. The government must question the ranchers. The cattle industry is out
of control and is running our Department of Agriculture. The raising of cattle is
ruining the environment. It’s taking too much of our land to produce livestock
where crops should be. It’s very political and it is an industry that pollutes the
environment. The rancher could give up a little bit of his land to the Mustang.
The cattlemen have a lobby and the money to convince the government that they
need to be able to do whatever they wish; that their way of life is essential and
should not be altered. It is difficult to sway the government to diminish the cattle
industry. It has been known for years that a diet of less meat and more good
fruits and vegetables is healthier for humans. But old habits are hard to change.
GM: What are your views on selective breeding and the abandoned foals from
the horseracing industry?
FL: When you get into selective breeding – it gets tricky because you really
want to select specific characteristics beforehand, or at least you want to try to.
It’s very expensive horses that you’re breeding, so you don’t want a horse out
teach you how to ride from your seat in a really good way. Basically, people are
riding from their hands and using too much rein and too much of their heel and
not enough seat, because nobody knows how to teach it. Maybe they are not
that good at it themselves, therefore, they don’t know how to teach it. It seems
that riding from the seat is sadly becoming a lost art.
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GM: Do you have a rescue that you recommend
here in the States?
FL: There’s a woman in California, Neda
DeMayo. She operates Return to Freedom, a
horse rescue facility primarily for mustangs. I
don’t know if she re-homes horses or sets some
up for adoption. She can be found online and I
suggest people contact her for advice. I really
haven’t been in the States much for the last six
years, and I am not as current on that as I would like to be. I do know there are a
lot of rescue centers. Use Google to find a rescue facility in your area. If people
are diligent, they can find a place to go look and see what’s available. My first
US clinics in some time will be held in June at Horse Spirit Ranch. June 19-20-
21 is the first one. June 26-27-28 is the second one. The first clinic is titled Be-
yond Natural Horsemanship - Training Through Trust and the second is Life En-
richment Through Success With Horses - Equine Facilitated Learning. Horse
Spirit Ranch is online at www.horsepsiritranch.net and is located not far from
San Diego, CA.
there that you are trying to show or race who cannot cut it. I can understand
why they want to cull horses that they consider less than perfect. It’s a shame to
send these horses, these foals, to slaughter. Perhaps they could be re-homed.
They could make a nice backyard horse or trail horse for somebody, but you
need to consider there are a lot of unwanted horses. There’s a lot of Mustangs
that are just great that are being warehoused that will never be adopted or re-
homed. So what to do about it? Do you slaughter some, or not? It’s a tough
question. It’s a political question. I would rather see a horse go to slaughter than
starve to death. But, to be candid with you, I am not 100% sure about the
method of horse slaughter these days, which is a big issue. However, as far as
moving these horses off that are unwanted, I sup-
pose you spend a lot of money under the banner
of breeding horses and you have limited re-
sources. It’s not an easy answer. I don’t want to
see any animal go to slaughter.
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GM: What are your views on imprinting foals?
FL: I think you can overdo it. But I do think it is a good idea. I do it generally
with my foals beginning with they are first hit the ground. But you have to
remember to let them be a horse. What happens, unfortunately, people think the
foal is so cute and so adorable and you want to love on them all the time. Don’t
try to turn your foal into a puppy. Certainly, you want to get that foal where you
can halter him, touch him all over; everywhere. You want to be able to handle
that horse, but you want to keep the sessions very short as a foal’s attention span
is extremely limited. You don’t want to do it all the time. You want to do it very
moderately so as not to overdo it as it will backfire on you.
GM: Your motivational quotes - #HORSEY WISDOM -
are inspiring and fun. Everyone enjoys reading your
daily horse wisdom on face book. It is exciting to know
that you are compiling these posts into a collection for
an upcoming book release! When is the anticipated
release date your new book #HORSEY WISDOM?
FL: #HORSEY WISDOM will be out hopefully by this
summer, fall at the latest. For fun I announced the book
yesterday on face book. Did you see the response? I
could have sold over 200 books yesterday if I actually
had the book available. Amazing.
GM: Thank you, Franklin. Your work with horses is an inspiration to all of us
and a breath of fresh air for the horses.
FL: My pleasure. I simply want folks to understand that all unwanted behavior
from a horse is a symptom of the animal’s fear and never deserves punishment.
Contact Franklin at WWW.ACOURSEINHORSE.COM to find out how
you he can help you in becoming a better horseman or woman.
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“Wild Bill” Hickok, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and Calamity Jane
are names which might come to mind when you remember the wild days of the
Old West. Images of fast-drawn, smoking pistols, gunfights at high noon, and
tethered horses outside of rowdy saloons come to our minds. One thing about
history is that memorable events become stories that someone tells. If it is a
good story, it might be told again and again through the years or even be pub-
lished. Sometimes the stories change into larger-than-life legends. We love to
hear and tell them. Wild Bill Hickok was such a legend. The man who murdered
Hickok, John McCall, never made the grade.
"Crooked Nose" Jack McCall, nee John McCall, spent his childhood years in
Jefferson County, Kentucky. The sole McCall son was raised up with his three
sisters. Very little is known about McCall's early life but a colorful facial de-
scription might give one an insight not only to his looks, but to the man's mental
state and self-esteem. McCall had a crooked nose, a florid complexion, a double
chin, a crossed-eye, and a pointy head. His crooked nose probably came by in-
timate contact with the butt end of a pistol and gained him the nickname,
"Crooked Nose" Jack. Arguably, McCall grew up as an insecure youth with
some sort of personality disorder that compelled him to prove to the world that
he was a “man”. We do know that "Crooked Nose" Jack consistently used alias-
es and was thought to be a cattle rustler, among other things. While living in
Deadwood he was using the alias of Bill Sutherland. And it was in Deadwood
that "Crooked Nose" Jack McCall met and, in cold-blood, murdered "Wild Bill"
Hickok.
By the 1870’s reports of gold strikes in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory
reached Washington’s ears. In 1874, General George A. Custer, along with geol-
ogists and mining engineers, plus a regiment of soldiers, was ordered by the
government to prove or disprove these rumors. At first Custer found only small,
limited strikes. But that was to change a year late when a grizzled prospector
named John B. Pearson discovered placer gold in a narrow ten-mile long can-
yon. Filled with dead pine trees, it was later known as “Deadwood Gulch”.
“Crooked Nose” Jack McCall
The Man Who Murdered “Wild Bill” Hickok
By Jack “Jake” Pratt
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(Placer gold is the loose nuggets or 'gold dust' that wash downstream from a
larger source.) Every shovel full of dirt contained a fortune for the first lucky
few who staked claims in the area. Very quickly, a gold mining, shanty town
sprang up after the news of the discovery made its way to the eastern
newspapers.
Deadwood was one of those towns and was actually an illegal settlement be-
cause it was in the Sioux Indian Territory. This had been given to certain Indian
nations by the government in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie. It was to have been a
‘sacred’ agreement, never to be broken. Yet within ten years, the treaty was not
worth the paper it was written on. In 1876, the real mother lode was found near
Lead, a town about three and a half miles from Deadwood. When the public got
hold of the news about Deadwood and Lead neither the government nor the
military could keep the masses of fortune seekers out of the Black Hills. Soon,
a massive influx of prospectors and others had made their way to the Black
Hills and staked mining claims.
Those back East who had missed the earlier gold strikes in California were now
convinced that they could go West and literally pick up gold as they walked
along. The settlement camps around Deadwood soon swelled to contain over
twenty-five thousand people, with more coming weekly. Amateurs and experi-
enced miners alike, all mad with the lust for quick wealth, were surrounded by
gamblers, thieves, painted ladies, swindlers, psychopaths and worse. All of
whom wanted their share of the gold. Young gunslingers wanting to earn a
reputation, or old ones trying to maintain theirs, paraded through the town. The
coffin makers flourished. It was said that Deadwood had a murder a day. Young
women lured from the cities by clever lies came by stage and wagon. On arri-
val, they were forced into prostitution and they sadly found that the realities of
life kept them stuck there. The gambling houses and saloons (over seventy-five
of them) along with sawmills, log cabins and tents, by the hundreds, popped up
almost overnight. With such a volatile population in the lawless town of
Deadwood life was dangerous, tough, cheap, and in many cases short.
A lot has been written on the life of "Wild Bill" Hickok. Beginning his life on
May of 1837 in Homer, Illinois, his father was an abolitionist. Young Hickok,
being a crack shot even then, helped his father keep the underground railroad
on their property safe from intruders. It was said that he could shoot a “crow on
the fly” with his deadly aim.
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"Wild Bill" Hickok was only fifteen years old when his father was killed by
anti-abolitionists. Three years later he left home. In 1859, he became a freight
driver for the same company that ran The Pony Express. While on a trail
from Raton Pass, Hickok was severely mauled by a Cinnamon bear
protecting her cubs. He was left with a crushed chest, a bitten, useless arm,
and a damaged shoulder, all of which took about four months to heal. The
bear was not so lucky: Its life ended with deep, bloody stab wounds and a slit
windpipe from Hickok's Bowie knife. It is said that he castrated that bear and
put the testicles in a coffee can.
Hickok was a well-known scout for the Union Army. He was a personal
friend of General George Custer and hunted with “Buffalo Bill” Cody. He
frequented some of the most dangerous old west towns, like Hays City,
Dodge City, and Abilene. He rose above other gunslingers and was elected
constable in one town, then sheriff in another and city marshal in a third. He
didn’t win very many re-elections, but due to his sure aim and fast draw, there
were at least seventeen dead men who would no longer break the laws or
pose a threat to anyone. His two silver-plated 1851 Navy Colt .36 caliber
pistols had ivory handle grips and were worn backwards in a sash belt with
handles pointed outwards. They were not infrequently fired.
As Hickok aged, his eyesight began to fade. He was diagnosed with trachoma, a
bacterial infection which could blind a man over time. He knew he was past his
prime as a gunfighter, so he tried to stay out of the limelight. He began to use his
skills as a gambler and made a meager living at poker. Hickok's legendary
reputation continued to precede him, so he could never relax. For that reason he
always sat in a corner chair during a poker game, his back to the wall and his
eyes on the saloon's swinging doors.
On August 1, 1876, a 23 year-old man named "Crooked Nose" Jack McCall sat
in on a game of poker with Hickok. The game lasted all night and McCall lost
every silver and gold coin he had, a little over one hundred dollars. Hickok gave
him seventy-five cents to buy something to eat and also reprimanded him not to
gamble unless he had the money to play, and loose. Perhaps overnight, McCall
nursed a grudge for that rebuke and made plans to kill Hickok. Some sources
say that he was plied with whiskey by other gamblers and “respectable” brothel
and saloon bosses to kill Hickok as they were worried Hickok might become
marshal in town and begin to clean things up. Rumor said twenty-five dollars
down, with a promised one hundred seventy-five later, was paid to McCall to
commit his dastardly, murderous deed.
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On August 2, 1876, Hickok was invited to join three friends at a square
rough-hewn wooden poker table that sat in the corner of the Number 10 Saloon.
One man was already seated in the corner chair and refused to change chairs with
Hickok although he asked several times to do so. The other men laughed at him
and said that no one was going to shoot "Wild Bill" Hickok in the back. Under-
standably uneasy, Hickok sat with his back to the saloon's back entrance. Alt-
hough Hickok was a prominent, flamboyant gambler he was losing, and hiding
his concerns behind a stoic, poker face while keeping his cards close to his chest.
Suddenly and with no warning, a .45 caliber pistol bullet entered the back of his
head and snuffed out the life of thirty-nine year old “Wild Bill” Hickok.
Supposedly shouting “Damn you, take that”, a drunk, cold-blooded "Crooked
Nose" Jack McCall pulled the trigger that sent a piece of hot lead through "Wild
Bill" Hickok's skull. The bullet made an exit through the side of Bill’s mouth and
lodged in the wrist of the man next to him. That bullet ended the heralded life of
the legendary "Wild Bill" Hickok. His lifeless head dropped to the bloody table,
dropping his poker hand to the filthy floor. It was discovered Hickok was
holding two black aces and two black eights. The fifth card lay face down. Some
say it was the Queen of Hearts or the Jack of Diamonds. But since then, in
gambling lore, this hand has become commonly known as the “Dead Man’s
The passing of time has a way of obscuring the facts. To this day, no one factual-
ly knows the real reason "Crooked Nose" Jack McCall shot and killed "Wild
Bill" Hickok in cold-blood on that hot August day in Deadwood.
After the fatal shot, McCall threw down his pistol and ran into the street jump-
ing on the first horse he saw. The saddle cinch was loose and he fell to the
ground. Two strong men grabbed him in the dark and soon there was a trial set
up in a local theater made up of miners and businessmen. McCall lied and said
he shot Hickok for revenge reasons. He claimed Hickok had killed his brother in
Abilene, Kansas. After a couple of hours, he was judged to be innocent and set
free. It’s said that he hung around town a short while until he was advised by
someone that it might no longer be safe for him to remain in Deadwood. Some
say he was given his guns and a horse and escorted out of town.
"Crooked Nose" Jack then travelled to Wyoming, about thirty miles away, and
everywhere he stopped, he bragged that he was the man who had killed Hickok
in a “fair fight”. He did that so freely, and for so long, that finally a US Mar-
shall arrested him. It was decided by a federal court that the first trial had been
illegal as it had been held in Indian Territory which had no official jurisdiction
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and no legally constituted court system. Despite it being “double jeopardy” -
being tried twice for the same crime - Jack was taken to Yankton, South Dakota
for trial.
After three months in jail, a legal jury found him guilty. Federal Judge Blair
ordered him to be hung by the neck until dead. On March 1, 1877, with over one
thousand people in attendance, a hood was placed over his unrepentant head and
a thirteen-coil noose placed around his 24 year old neck. An historical marker in
Deadwood says he had put on a “bold front and careless air during the entire
trial and was the least moved of all present”. That at the end he “gazed over the
throng without exhibiting the least faltering or quiver of the lips”. He asked for a
short time to pray, which was granted. He then told the marshal to tighten the
rope around his neck as it was loose. At 10:10 am., with the knot of the rope
under and behind his left ear, the gallows' wooden trap door was sprung. John
McCall was the first person to be legally executed in the Dakota Territory.
McCall's body was buried in the southwest corner of Yankton's Roman Catholic
cemetery with the noose still tightly cinched around his neck. The cemetery ran
out of room five years later, and exhumed it for relocation. But McCall's
remains were never reburied in the newer graveyard, for reasons unknown. The
bones of "Crooked Nose" Jack McCall probably lay in an unmarked grave,
somewhere.
In Deadwood, as in other Old West boom towns, time moved on and things
settled down. The drifters, gamblers, and the like, did as well and the
law-abiding citizens began to prosper. The gold mining finally dried up in
Deadwood, but the legends and stories still live on.
Research References:
Wild Bill Hickok, Richard O’Connor, original copyright 1959,
ISBN 1-56852-176-6,
Legends of the Old West, History Channel 3 disc collection
Wikipedia – Wild Bill Hickok
Wikipedia – Jack McCall
Legends of America, Kathy Weiser, Old West Legends,
Article “Jack McCall-The Cowardly Killer of Jack McCall”
Black Hills Visitor, Rapid City, South Dakota
“Deadwood - An Entire American City Named An Historic National Landmark”
City of Deadwood information site
Historic Preservation Committee
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It was the summer of my fifteen year on the planet. This is a remarkable fact
only in that I was not then, nor am I now, a person that remembers dates very
well. However, this particular stage of my life was marked by a few of the
prerequisite benchmarks that cemented the specifics in my mind forever.
Firstly, I had just secured my first job. I was the new “do-everything-boy” at
Diablo Nursery (for plants, not children). This is where my view of the working
world would be shaped and would provide the meager paychecks that would go
into my first car fund merely a short year away. Secondly, it was the summer
before I started high school. With all of my schooling firmly behind me from
preschool to college, I can now safely say that no larger of a chasm is crossed
than that from 8th grade to the 9th, a very impressionable time.
Thirdly, and arguably most
important, this is the summer
that I would meet Melissa
Caplan (now Melissa Caplan
Austin, but we won’t talk about
that as somewhere deep in me
will always be a 14 year-old boy
pining for things just out of
reach.)
I am not sure if Diablo Nursery
was Melissa’s first job or not.
Seeing as how she was a whole
year and grade ahead of me in
life, she clearly had the oppor-
tunity to have experienced the whole world in my eyes. What I did know is that
a few days a week she could be found in the small unassuming gift shop that
adorned the front of the nursery, a gift shop that would prove to be my largest
distraction as I was immediately smitten with the inhabitant.
Very quickly, at least in memory, I dipped into my social bag of tricks handed
down to me from my father, and made Melissa laugh heartily and often. This
tactic had served me well in the past and continues to serve me well today. The
product of those first encounters with Melissa was the foundation of our budding
friendship that would last longer than I could have ever guessed.
I Thought I Saw Her First
By Tobin Tullis
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September rolled around and as the trepidation of high school set in, all the fears
flooded my every thought. Stepping on the campus for the first time felt like the
pioneer steps on the moon and every fiber in my being was calling out for home,
or at least my familiar middle school campus. All of the worry plagued me until
Melissa appeared in the hall surrounded by all “the cool kids” draped in letter-
man jackets and the high fashion of the day. (side note: I am taking great pains
as to not document the exact year and/or divulging the amount of “tall hair” and
acid wash jeans). She approached my small unassuming band of lost souls hap-
pily and saying to her clan “this is Toby, the guy I was telling you all about”.
Dare I say that this small act proved to be the early turning point of my high
school career and everything became a little easier. I loved her even more than I
did all summer, which was a feat that I thought unachievable.
Our high school days carried on as high school days do. Never actually too high
or too low but perceived as monumentally cataclysmic. I secured my car and left
Diablo Nursery. And sufficed for the occasional hallway interactions or chance
run-ins at a house party, Melissa and I had little daily relationship left; however
the reason that I was even able to run into her at these parties never escaped me.
Fast forward through life to a time where I began to carve out my niche in
writing, marketing and all manners of professional endeavors. A friend and I had
started a modest podcast aimed to entertain and educate people in our small
town about people making a difference locally. I was not prepared for how
personally affecting this little project was going to be. Facebook has connected
me, as is often the case, with many people that I would have no contact with for
the rest of my days on this planet. Melissa Caplan Austin, is one of those people.
When brainstorming with my co-host about people to feature on the show, I
quickly thought of Melissa. I had been watching, via social media, the amazing
and passionate work she had been doing with horse rescue in our area, and I
leapt at the chance to reunite with her. The day of recording arrived and she
sauntered into the studio (my one desk office space with an iPhone and micro-
phone) every bit the operational cowgirl I had seen pictures of. The form fitting
and dusty jeans draped over her worn boots and topped with her big shiny belt
buckle depicting some scene from the Wild West. With her white dress shirt over
her black Horses Healing Hearts T she came bearing the gift of horseshoes to
mount over the door in a specific fashion as to promote luck. The next hour was
emotionally effective and ended with an invitation to her ranch. Most notably, if
only for a moment, I was 14 again and had fallen in love with Melissa all over
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again, this time for her heart, passion and work she was doing with no thought to herself for the greater good of the horses.
Melissa explained to us that “Horses Healing Hearts, Inc. 501(c)3 is a non-profit public charity that provides rescue, rehabilitation, temporary assistance and adoption for horses that are at risk, neglected, abused, unwanted or otherwise in need of special care”. She detailed how “the organization works to increase ac-cess to the multitude of benefits horses provide to both adults and children through the experiential modality called, Equine Guided Education (EGE) offer-ing sessions, workshops & team-builders to help people see themselves; through the eyes of the horse.” Then without fail she launched into “the need to remove horses from desperate and inhumane circumstances working with Animal Con-trol, individual surrender cases, as well as other local rescue and welfare organi-zations to provide space, shelter, nutrition and care for horses in need.” She spoke candidly about their next steps as an organization and the challenges they are facing. HHH began their quest concentrating on Mustangs and Thorough-breds but quickly realized that struggle and humanity was not going to stop at two breeds, so they opened up to all horses. They have also seen the severe need to treat the senior horses with dignity and grace. Currently their quest is to pro-cure a land in the Livermore California area to create a sanctuary to get the older horses “out-of-pasture”, and their fundraiser in April will concentrate on that quest. Her take on this pressing need is that horses deserve the given right to live out their days happy, and Melissa aims to make that happen.
Many more questions came flooding into my mind. I really had no idea of the layers of her horse rescue. My main point of interest came with EGE and the therapeutic qualities. I needed to go deeper into the stories of challenged chil-dren coming together with a horse and a certified trainer to be reached as no hu-man could reach them previously, and healing as a result. “Tell me more about EGE”, I begged. The smile of having infected another soul crept across her face, before her well-rehearsed explanation came forth: “Horses read the truths of our souls through our energetic presence and mirror back our true selves. They react to what they see and feel every moment, giving us valuable feedback about our body language and energy. This feedback allows us to enhance our emotional in-telligence and process important life lessons. “With the help of horses, you can become more focused on your vision and values in life, accelerating your per-sonal growth and propelling your life forward. By listening and understanding the messages from horses, you will open to a new level of conscious living, providing a solid foundation upon which to build stronger presence in daily life and all that you undertake.”
I was, and still am today, gob smacked.
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We went to her
ranch the
following
week where I
witnessed for
the first time
the true
connection of a
human with an
animal. I have
seen plenty of
people treat
their pets as
children, but
the animals in
question seem to be simply tolerant of this behavior. I have seen trained animals
that amaze the general public with their talent on command, but until this day, I
had never seen the emotional exuberance of an appreciative animal so prevalent
in their eyes. I had never seen a human so connected by aura to these animals as
to have an actual conversation without the use of words. I had never witnessed a
situation where another human could vouch for us to an animal, as visitors, only
to have that animal acknowledge her trust and promptly approach us to
investigate for themselves. The whole day was spent in a dream state of true
belief that these animals can and do heal! What became clear to me at that
moment was that this was a life calling answered for Melissa. She had been
connected to her horses, and them to her, long before Diablo Nursery, I just had
not known. My pre-pubescent being at age 14 had merely a topical effect on her,
and her true love, a love that might never be tested, lied with these majestic
steads. I laid down my sword and joined her in the fight!
I could not wait to introduce my wife and young children to this world I had
witnessed, however a few months would have to pass before this all became
reality. On a sweltering summer day, probably not unlike the day over 20 years
prior that I first met Melissa, my lovely wife, new baby girl and two year old son
decked out in cowboy boots and shorts, stepped onto the grounds at Horses
Healing Hearts. Based on what I had witnessed earlier that year, I knew better
than to try and influence anything that might transpire there that day.
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This was Melissa’s Universe and she would expose it to my brood in the man-
ner she felt fit. She did not disappoint. In a short matter of time I witnessed
Melissa create the same fervent connection between person and horse with my
son as she did with me. She showed him that a 1000lb animal is not better or
worse than a 30lb boy, and that they are united in their gentle and innocent de-
meanor. There was a palpable magic that occurred, when through a wordless
and mutual agreement, a physical connection was made with zero fear on either
participant’s part. At the moment his little hand came to rest on the bridge of
the horses nose, I knew that he would be forever changed, and that the fight for
the safe keeping of these angelic creatures had grown by at least one whole sol-
dier. A solider that would always have an unbreakable memory of his first time
with horses and that would be around longer than the both of us to make sure
they are protected. My mind begins to swirl when I think of the countless peo-
ple, little and big, that Melissa and her horses connected with on such a visceral
level.
My mind also begins to stir a little when I think of that 14-year-old boy who
thought he had love defined, only to find out years later that the horses had beat
me to it.
My son and I have joined the good fight, and so can you. The rolling up our
sleeves and getting dusty is not always a viable option for many of us whose
hearts cry out for these animals, but together, as a tribe, we can make a differ-
ence as long as Melissa is heading up the charge. Perhaps you know where
there is some land available, or have a few dollars to donate. Perhaps you do
want to get dusty and want to meet the animals for yourself, or perhaps you just
want to tell Melissa that she is appreciated. All of these are wonderful choices.
We are all much more connected that we think, and there is nobody more
approachable than Melissa. Reach out and say howdy!
www.horseshealingheartsinc.org
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Mountain Trail is an exciting and relatively new competitive equestrian sport.
Negotiating difficult obstacles that might be found on a typical mountain trail
alongside other competitors can be an exhilarating experience for the rider.
And for the spectators watching the competition it can be just as thrilling - as
demonstrated by the growing number of enthusiasts in the sport. And like other
equestrian sports, Mountain Trail requires special training. Horses will not nat-
urally or easily descend a hill into a pond, then over a shaky bridge and then
through heavy logs and boulders. When done to perfection, the horse moves
through such obstacles with boldness and confidence you just don’t see in
other sports.
The concept for the sport of Mountain Trail was first born in 2002 in Eugene,
Oregon by Mr. Major Defor of the Oregon Horse Center. Defor has enjoyed
riding the rugged back country of the mountain northwest wilderness for many
years. While watching a trail class one day at one of the horse shows, he thought,
“This doesn’t look like a trail course! I need to design one based upon what a real
mountain trail looks like. One with obstacles you’d find on the mountains.”
Mr. Defor went to work setting up obstacles of rocks, bridges and logs in the
way they would look if they came from a mountain trail for the very first
mountain trail show. It was an immediate attraction and word spread very fast
about his fun, new and novel obstacle trail show.
My wife, Lee, and I saw the beauty of this Mountain Trail concept and begin to
work on a foundation starting in 2010 to take the concept into a new discipline
called Mountain Trail. IMTCA – International Mountain Trail Association was
formed in 2013 and rolled out in 2014. The association oversees the standards
for obstacles, challenges and judging rules. Twelve shows/challenges where
held in two years with over 3,000 individual scores given out. We took this
discipline across the US, Canada and Europe by teaching clinics, judging
clinics, building Mountain Trail Course, writing articles, writing books and
demonstrating this from coast to coast at horse expo’s.
The New Discipline
By Mark Bolender
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This new discipline has taken hold and is growing rapidly. The sport of
Mountain Trail has become an endeavor to navigate trail obstacles with skill
and finesse, with or without a ticking clock. A primary focus Mountain Trail is
not only proper and safely negotiating the obstacles in a timely manner, but ex-
ecuting them as a partnership between horse and rider. This is obvious to any-
body watching; when the horse and rider “disconnect” it seems like the rider is
making the horse perform the task of negotiating obstacles. Yet if a partnership
of mutual trust exists, horse and rider appear as one single living being, and
that image is rivaled by few feats of man and beast. It’s like a virtuoso violin
performance, where the boundary between the human and the instrument
becomes blurred in order to create beautiful music. So are the horse and rider
who mutually trust their instincts, and together negotiate seemingly impossible
obstacles.
Some of the patterns are so difficult that the rider has to completely “release” to
the horse’s instinct to take over because the rider simply cannot process every-
thing the horse can. In other times it’s necessary for the horse to take direction
from the rider. Most times, there is a balance, and that’s what the unity is all
about. Such unity can only be achieved with proper training, where the horse’s
mind is the main focus of the training. Training the horse on how to think and
then allowed to use its instincts is not only the only way to train for Mountain
Trail, but it’s the best road for preventing injuries.
While technically inaccurate, sometimes the terms Mountain Trail and Extreme
Trail are referred to as the same sport. A spin off from Mountain Trail is the
AQHA Trail Challenge which has many of the same obstacles and some shows
are using Mountain Trail Courses. With the size and marketing might of the
AQHA we can only be excited to have them join into this new discipline and we
plan to work closely with them to build the sport.
We are focused on taking this discipline across the world for the next five years.
At present Mountain Trail Courses and clinics have been taught nationwide and
in Canada, and Europe. I see excitement growing as talented new apprentices
from Germany, Austria, Australia, Columbia, Italy, Canada and from across the
United States come to learn how to train and judge Mountain Trail and build the
sport.
Good Horsemanship, good equitation and lots of fun are three good reasons that
will continue to make this new sport grow.
Happy Trails!
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HORSES & STARS Bhalin
there must be a connection
to wonder under inky night
cold meteors and manes
nostrils flare
frost shocks
white breath
The gravity of horses
a mountain shroud surrounds the desert horizon
the gravity of gods cloaked in black silk
comes and goes
hooves crash
sweet water pools of solace form and mirror the
constellations and quiet moon Midnight mass
an ancient peace
gravity comes again
and heals me
a comforting snort and nudge at my back,
I stumble forward into the firmament
the invisible centaur
I am
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